We provide opportunities for writing bachelor theses on topics in Economics of Crime, Law and Economics, and Labour Economics.

If you are interested in writing a bachelor thesis with us, please take into account the following information:

1. Typically, we offer supervision of bachelor theses with an empirical focus in the areas of Economics of Crime and Law and Economics. The topics are chosen such that students gain an understanding of the state-of-the-art empirical research in the respective field of economics. Topics can cover new questions, replication studies, or literature reviews. Examples of topics (in the category “new questions”) supervised by Prof. Anna Bindler in the past are: 

• Mitigation of drug sentencing and its effect on crime
• Long-term unemployment and violent crime
• Suicide and primary health care in Swedish regions

2. Basic knowledge in statistics and/or econometrics is strongly recommended. 

3. You can write your thesis in English or German. Please see the “Prüfungsordnung” relevant to you for further administrative details and the general information on theses provided on the faculty’s website.

To indicate your interest in writing a bachelor thesis with us, please contact Dorothea Pakebusch, submitting your CV and your current transcript of records to pakebuschwiso.uni-koeln.de. Please also submit a short research proposal, indicating your topic of interest for the bachelor thesis. Please note that we will not respond to incomplete applications.

We will accept applications for bachelor theses until the start of the semester (April 1 for the summer term and October 1 for the winter term).

We will communicate whether an application can be accommodated until the start of lectures. The final topic will be agreed on after this date.

Please note that we can only accommodate a limited number of bachelor thesis supervisions and will typically not be able to accept all applications.

We provide opportunities for writing master theses on topics in Applied Microeconomics. A preference will be given to topics in Economics of Crime, Law and Economics and Labour Economics, but topics in other fields of Applied Microeconomics/Applied Microeconometrics (e.g., Economic History or Development Economics) will also be considered.

If you are interested in writing a master thesis with us, please take into account the following information:

1. Typically, we offer supervision of master theses with an empirical focus in the above-mentioned fields. Students are expected to work with data and statistical/econometric software. They are further expected to suggest topics, to develop their own research questions and to find/collect suitable data to test their hypotheses. 

2.    Examples of topics supervised by Prof. Anna Bindler in the past are: 

• The effect of Covid-19 on crime: Evidence from Mexico
• Income Inequality and Crime: Evidence from Sweden
• Price Dispersion and the Value of Information in Online Retail Markets
• Measuring cost efficiency of banks with different ownership types

3.    Good to very good knowledge in basic econometrics and/or statistics is strongly recommended. In addition, students should have at least basic knowledge of causal inference and quasi-experimental research designs (e.g., instrumental variables, difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity, panel data methods).

4.    You can write your thesis in English or German. Please see the “Prüfungsordnung” relevant to you for further administrative details and the general information on theses provided on the faculty’s website. 

To indicate your interest in writing a master thesis with us, please contact Dorothea Pakebusch, submitting your CV and your current transcript of records to pakebuschwiso.uni-koeln.de. Please also submit a research proposal, describing the topic/research question of interest for the thesis and the empirical approach that you have in mind to answer the research question. Please note that we will not respond to incomplete applications.

We will accept applications for master theses until the start of the semester (April 1 for the summer term and October 1 for the winter term).

We will communicate whether an application can be accommodated until the start of lectures. The final topic will be agreed on after this date.

Please note that we can only accommodate a limited number of master thesis supervisions and will typically not be able to accept all applications.
 

If you are interested in pursuing a PhD with us, please read the below information:

1.    We offer supervision for PhD students in the Doctoral Programme in Economics (see the relevant information on the website of the Cologne Graduate School). We do not offer any paid PhD positions (employment); scholarships are available through the programme. 

2.    We can offer supervision for a limited number of PhD theses in Applied Microeconomics, especially Economics of Crime, Empirical Law and Economics and Labour Economics. You should have an interest in empirical research using microeconometric methods.

3.    Very good knowledge in econometrics, especially microeconometrics (including causal inference), and/or statistics is strongly recommended. 

To indicate your interest, please contact Professor Anna Bindler submitting your CV, a current transcript of records and a concise statement of your research interests to bindlerwiso.uni-koeln.de.

The next application period for the PhD Programme in Economics begins in December 2022 (starting the programme in October 2023).